Recently I got an email asking to work for Wizz Air UK. I filled up a lot of questionnaire and the guys at the other end were very professional and I got my appointment letter today but it seems too good to be true.

It must be one of the funniest Nigerian scams around. There is no company called "Wizz Airline"...among other problems... Imagine Ryanair paying for food, travel expenses and accommodation + 5000 GBP per month. They would have hard time finding pilots, as everybody would want to be CCs.

3, 4.0 ENTITLEMENTS: All salary and expense figures shall be in Pounds (GBP), Sterling or Euros equivalent depending on employee home country and salary preference, (except where employee prefers currency on his/her local/home currency) If only!

4,5.1 ACCOMODATION: Accommodations will be provided for employee. Accommodation shall be of international standard same as accommodates WIZZ AIRLINE expatriate senior and management staff. Employer shall also pay for and provide complete meals for employee / (Family) as deem appropriate for period of contract. Again if only,

Sometimes you have to open your eyes and think to yourself, Does this seem to good to be true!

This is almost certainly an attempt at either Identity theft or Advance fee fraud.

With the former they will extract your bank details and personal information from you (so they can "pay" you!) and then use the information to raid your bank accounts and get other forms of credit in your name.

With the latter they will ask you for a "processing" fee of an indeterminate amount (could be 100s or 1000s, depends how desperate you sound).

Either way, bin it!

I've forwarded the letter to mail.com and asked them to disable the account. It's a drop in the ocean, but the thought that it inconveniences the little s**t makes it worth it.

(Added - if you are looking for, or are offered a job, as a matter of rule DO NOT SEND MONEY! And do not send ANY personal information until you have verified that the company is legitimate!)

I've forwarded the letter to mail.com and asked them to disable the account.

I did that a few days ago. They used to be very good at closing down accounts but I've had no feedback and the account still appears to be live, as emails to it don't bounce. Behind the scenes, I've done quite a bit more which I won't publish here (PM me if you want to know) , but let's just say that these people will be having some problems with continuing to try to scam people with this particular scam. Of course they will just set up again and carry on but it does make life awkward for them and if it only saves one person then it's served a purpose.

I did that a few days ago. They used to be very good at closing down accounts but I've had no feedback and the account still appears to be live, as emails to it don't bounce. Behind the scenes, I've done quite a bit more which I won't publish here (PM me if you want to know) , but let's just say that these people will be having some problems with continuing to try to scam people with this particular scam. Of course they will just set up again and carry on but it does make life awkward for them and if it only saves one person then it's served a purpose.

I've had to protect the staff in my company, many of whom are expatriate workers, more times than I can shake a stick at from sending off a "processing" fee to a company that's guaranteed them a lucrative job.

I've even contacted the Met to ask for advice, and basically they say that they are so swamped with the ****ing things that they won't even look at it if it's less than a certain amount (5 or 10 grand) in losses.

Sad really - the simple solution would be to just cut Nigeria off from the Internet, they are without a doubt the source of most of these scams.

But the other solution is to educate stupid people in the old internet (and life!) adage: If it looks to good to be true, then it almost certainly is!

the simple solution would be to just cut Nigeria off from the Internet, they are without a doubt the source of most of these scams.

That is true, but it is truer to say that Nigerians, rather than Nigeria, are the source of most of these scams. Many of them are outside Nigeria and seem to operate with impunity despite occasional crackdowns. Nor do Nigerians have an exclusivity on this type of crime.

Cutting Nigeria off from the internet would penalise the huge majority of Nigerians who are decent honest people. It is sad that the actions of a criminal minority, which admittedly is a lot of people, have blackened (oops!) the name of that country.

Cutting Nigeria off from the internet would penalise the huge majority of Nigerians who are decent honest people. It is sad that the actions of a criminal minority, which admittedly is a lot of people, have blackened (oops!) the name of that country.

But it would probably force the perpetually corrupt government of that nation to do something about it.

There are people out there who make it their lifes work to disrupt these scammers. I've spent a good few hours myself reading some of these "disruptions" where the "good guy" actually manages to get money from the scammers!

Another sure sign it's a scam is the requirement for you to obtain an "Expatriate Oath of Allegiance Certificate" (or some similar bit of paper you've never heard of). You can be sure they will offer to help you obtain that and where to send the fee..

In fact these scammers helpfully tell you that you can get one from "ZA Law Associates". Google found this reference..

I believe that this company: ZA Law Associates, 33A Selborne Road, Ilford, Essex, London IG1 3AH is operating, or involved in, various scams offering bogus employment and immigration services.

The 'fax' number +44 (0) 75659 11657 is listed under various different scams on sites such as Scamwarners and is associated with a number of other apparently fake law companies including this one : Gill Law Consultants, 98 Woodgreen Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE4 9UE, United Kingdom.